Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1887-04-21
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
LUXURY OF LIFE IN THE Loros LAND or
THE WEST.
fen-Miie Avenues Bcrdered by Cypress, Nag.
nolia and Palm Trees-Roses Blooming the
Year Round CARLOADS of 0ranges and
Lemons "A Prosperous Population,

bemcns-A Prosperous Population.
"If you want to find q perfect cl
mate on American soil 60 to Souther
California" said a friend before leavin
New York last month, "where rose
are in bloom the year round and wheI
picnics are never postponed on accour
Of the rain" th
Acting under this advice have bee
spending the past three weeks In thi
Lotos land of the West. find, how
ever, that even Lotos lands are no
without their drawbacks. How woul,
you like living in land where the file
never cease tormenting you, summe
or winter; where frosty cold weathe
never sends the blood leaping through
your veins like mad under its spur
and where you never see ice except il
an iceman's cart? Fancy living in
land where, after night has fallen, tn,
people never gather around an oper
fireplace and watch the flames RUSHING
up the chimney from the blazing logs
q land in which there are no sleighinc
parties and skating is unknown! Well
one must not expect to find a perfect
climate In this world, for if it were
possible some enterprising Yankee
would tcke up the land, found colony
and name il" Heaven" inside Of wear
But to an Eastern man who has beer
accustomed all his life to the cold
winters Of the North and the eccen
trlcities Of a variable climate, Southern
California does seem a veritable Para
disc. Here is land where fruit hang,
on the trees all winter, where flower!
fill the air with their fragrance from
one years end to the other, and where
although the heat in the middle of the
day Is quite intense, the nights are SC
cool and refreshing that blankets are
in demand the yearround.
Riverside is the centre of the orange
and raisin producing district of Cali
fornia. 1t is the largest incorporated
town in theworld, embracing as it does
fifty-four square miles of territory
while Its population is not over 5000
Inhabitants. The town is hemmed in
on all sides by foot hills and mountains.
Standing upon the veranda of his cot
tage, the Riverside citizen can see the
towering peaks Of San Jacinto, San
lBernardino. Cucamonga, Temescai and
Old Greyback in the distance. The
land abouthim, strange to say, is some.
times so level that he can look down
one avenue for five miles without
changing his position. The town is
full of incongruities. Think of a place
with a population of only 5000 where
improved land cannot be purchased
for less than $1,000 an acre, and unim-
proved land is hard to get at $500 per
acre; where there are avenues from
five to ten miles long, lined on either
side by stately cypress, pepper, encalyp-
tus, magnolia and palm trees, whose
branches almost lock together above
your head; town whose avenues and
streets outside of the business centre
are bordered with orange, lemon and
apricot orchards of from ten to twenty
five acres each, fronted by wonderful
flower gardens, cypress hedges and
foliage plants! You can drive for
hours along the streets and not find
any two ranches" as the people call
them, alike. The owners of some of
them have trained and trimmed their
cypress trees into beautiful and fan
tastic shapes, such as baskets, balls,
eggs, round columns with fluted capi-
tails, Masonic emblems, arches, arbors,
squares, pillars and monuments. Gray
elled walks, spouting fountains and
artistically arranged beds of flowers
add greatly to the general effect.
With such grounds rs I have already
described you would expect to find
tasty country houses, displaying en-
joyable architectural features, with
pretty stables and outbuildings. But
You will find nothing Of the kind.
There are not more than half dozen
residences in town that cost $4,000. 1t
is easy to discover the cause of this
state of things. When the settlers
began TO plant their orchards ten years
ago orange-growing in this part of the
countr, was an experiment, the result
OIL which no one could determine. The
men who came here to settle spent all
their money in buying land and in
starting their orchards, and so gave
htue thought or care to shelter. They
knew that for six or eight months in
the year there would be no rain, and as
irost or snow were out of the question,
tney cared little about the character Of
thelf houses. Some lived for the first
year or twoin tents; Others constructed
pam little cottages out ofrough boards
ana have lived in them ever since.
Families who in the East were accus-
toned to spacious rooms in q we'll
furnished house were obliged to be
contented with one or two rooms IN n